Australia's 2016 Davis Cup campaign is over, after Bernard Tomic lost the first reverse singles match he needed to win to force a fifth rubber in the first round tie against the US at Kooyong. Tomic was beaten 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) by rival No.1 John Isner, as what started poorly ended as a contest, but not with victory.

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Australia had not lost to the US on grass since the 1979 final, when John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis swept the singles rubbers against John Alexander and Mark Edmondson at Sydney's White City. But Tomic's four-set defeat of Jack Sock on the opening day was the sole success this time, as the 2016 world group campaign for last year's semi-finalists faltered in the first round.

That means a return to the promotion/relegation round in September, while the US progresses to a quarter-final against either Croatia or Belgium in July, the Croats entering the final day leading 2-1 in Liege.

A hemisphere away, it was a strangely muted performance for almost three sets from Tomic, who wobbled in the middle of his opening match in the extreme heat of Friday, but looked out-of-sorts almost from the start of the singles sequel on a warm but not oppressive Sunday.

The Queenslander who entered the match on his favoured grass with a fine 16-3 cup record seemed to lack energy and zest, playing passively and sluggishly, muttering "wake-up" after one fault in the middle of a 26-minute first set nightmare and then pretty much just slumbered on until rousing himself for a more intense and spirited ending.

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The Australian was unable to make inroads early on the enormous Isner serve, winning just two points in the first set as 10 aces thundered past, and three in the second. His was able to win less than half the points on his own second serve, and struggled to hit a winner off the ground - although, certainly, substantial rallies were few.

Isner took advantage of Tomic's defensive positioning, and mindset, an anxious Hewitt sitting further forward on the courtside bench attempting to lift his charge than Tomic often was on the Kooyong court. That left Isner as the aggressor, the American world No.11 breaking in the fifth game of the first set, and the seventh of the second.

Tomic then called team physiotherapist Ivan Gutierrez to strap the wrist that had troubled him during the lead-up week in Acapulco. But his legs were the more obvious issue, and his frustration evident when he lashed out at absent teammate Nick Kyrgios during one exchange with Hewitt, saying: "Nick's sitting down in Canberra. Bullshit he's sick."

The first real signs of life did not come until 6-5 in the third set, when Tomic won more than one point on an Isner service game for the first time, and finally converted his fifth set point when a tight Isner dumped a forehand in the net.Two of the first four were saved with aces, another with a brave forehand drop shot, and the first with a fine backhand down the line.

But the breakthrough sparked a little something more in Tomic who served beautifully himself during the fourth set, Isner having set a new tour-level record with one 253kmh bomb during the third. Sam Groth still holds the record at 163kmh, but at a Challenger event, not on the big stage.

On Sunday, Groth retreated to the locker-room at the end of the third set, just in case, once there was hope that the conclusion no longer foregone, while Hewitt, the other candidate for a live fifth singles rubber, remained in the full sun fulfilling his captaincy duties. It was an unconventional build-up to what would have been a sudden-death match, but Tomic had to win his contest, first, for it to even take place.

It did not. After one loose Tomic backhand in the tiebreak, Isner closed the match with his 48th ace, in two hours, 14 minutes. A day that had started with such great possibility and intrigue ended earlier than the hosts had wanted, Australia's hopes of a first title since 2003 over, and Hewitt's temporary comeback finished, too.